SINGAPORE — Three-hundred and forty-two migrant workers residing in the Space@Tuas dormitory have been isolated in a government quarantine facility after a new Covid-19 case was detected there.

In a statement on Thursday (Oct 1), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the positive coronavirus case was detected on Sept 28 through rostered routine testing.

The 342 workers will serve a mandatory 14-day quarantine at the facility.

The ministry said that a preliminary assessment showed that the case may have come about due to a breach of physical segregation measures in the dormitories, which prevent workers from different blocks from intermixing. 

A stay-home notice was then immediately issued to the workers staying at the two blocks.

However, further investigation showed that it was unlikely for the workers from the different blocks to have mingled with each other. As a result, the authorities have rescinded the stay-home notice for the unaffected blocks.

Instead, MOM found that safe living measures were not strictly enforced within the affected block where the new case resided. 

Therefore, all 342 residents — who work for 27 employers — from the affected block were deemed at risk and needed to be quarantined, it added.

“MOM urges all dormitory operators, employers and workers to work together to comply with strict safe living measures within the dormitories,” said the ministry.

“(This is) so that only affected workers in the same level or section need to be quarantined if there is a Covid-19 case, instead of the entire block.”

MOM reiterated that dormitory operators must ensure that safe living measures remain effective. 

Similarly, workers must continue to comply strictly with the measures and remain within their respective residential zones.

Employers should also ensure that their workers adhere strictly to the safe living measures in their dormitories and consistently undergo rostered routine testing, which takes place every two weeks.

“It is only with the collective efforts of all parties that our migrant workers can remain safe and healthy, and our businesses face minimal disruptions to their operations,” said MOM.